Cameron Wake – October 23, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 23, 2016
Postgame – vs. Buffalo
Miami Dolphins DE Cameron Wake (transcribed by Ted Leshinski)
(The mentality, the physicality that you guys have had the last two weeks – is that what you thought this team would be coming out of camp or has that just kind of evolved and taken you guys by surprise? ) – “Definitely not a surprise. At some point you’ve got to draw a line in the sand and say that’s enough. We knew coming into this game it was going to be that kind of game. They had been running the ball well. The front seven, that’s something you’ve got to take personal. I think guys, top to bottom, put into their mind that that’s not going to be something we’re going to allow. So today we went out there and put our foot down.”
(What’s different from the past couple of weeks opposed to the first six weeks of the season?) – “Consistency. Even the first few weeks of the season we’ve shown that we can do it. Again, you can’t play seven, six snaps and let the last four go. The good or bad thing about defense – you can have six great series and one bad one and it kind of ruins everything. Offense may not be that way. You have five great plays, five touchdowns, you get a pat on the back. Vice versa on defense. You play 99 percent great and give up a few scores, it doesn’t work. You have to play the entire game, every play, because you never know which one is going to be the one that changes the game.”
(You just didn’t win two games, you beat two hot teams. So what does that say about where your team is at now?) – “To me, I don’t look at it like that. Every time I go out there it’s going to be a tough battle, it’s going to be a good team. You’ve got to fight to win every snap and I feel like the guys we have on this side of the ball, the guys we have on this team … when we play together, play complimentary football, whether it’s offense doing their thing driving the ball, eating up the clock, defense goes out there and gets the ball back to the offense, I think we’re going to be tough to beat. Because, again, that consistency that we were lacking, whether it was offense maybe not doing what they were supposed to do or defense not getting off the field … kind of messing up the complimentary styles, that’s where you get in trouble. So I think from top to bottom, again, it was a team win. Offense did what they were supposed to do. Defense did what they were supposed to do. And again, no one can beat us when we’re playing that way.”
(I know that winning is the bottom line and it doesn’t matter how you do it but the last two weeks you won in a physical nature. You beat the other team up a little bit. Does that make it sweeter? Does that make it more fun for a guy who plays at the line of scrimmage?) – “I personally like getting in there, getting a little dirty. I’ve always had that pit bull mentality. You don’t bring a Chihuahua to a dog fight. That’s the mentality you’ve got to have. It’s just man versus man. It’s my gap. I don’t care who’s going to be in there. I don’t care what you think. It’s mine, plain and simple. There’s no C+ in football, it’s pass/fail. I think every guy across the line, front and back end as well, that win it all mentality, where I got to win my match up. And that’s the only way we’re going to stop a team. Again, I was excited about somebody coming in here and saying that they’re going to run the ball down our throat … yeah, not so.”
(Besides getting one in the win column, for your first-year coach, these kind of wins, do they pay dividends for guys believing?) – “Well I’d like to think that guys who’ve been around this team from April believe … if you just started believing today then you’re kind of doing everybody a disservice. I think from the beginning of OTA’s when guys got together we knew what kind of team we were going to have, and like I said, getting that complimentary football together where the offense was doing what they need to do and we have their backs and vice versa. The last few games that’s what we’ve been doing. That belief, to me, that started back in March when guys started coming into the building. It’s just getting out there and getting back out on to the field and I’m looking forward to having more games like this.”
(You’ve been around long enough to know that when things don’t go well the quarterback gets a lot of blame. How do you feel for Ryan Tannehill when he gets time … you know Ryan’s personality; he’s not going to say it but is it unfair to judge him when he doesn’t have time back there in the pocket?) – “The mob is fickle. That’s just the nature of the beast. One minute they’re singing your praises, the next minute they’re trying to cut off your head. That’s football. And as a football player you have to know that going into the game. There’s no difference between the quarterback or anybody else. You’ve got to know the nature of the beast and you have to focus on your job at hand and the guy that you have playing with you. Again, I know him and have played with him every snap he’s ever played and I think I can say if he’s concerned with other people’s opinions he’d be doing the team a disservice. That’s not the way he’s built. He’s got the guys in this locker room, the guys in this building standing behind him 100 percent. He goes out there and does his job and every game he’s better and better. I don’t think he worries about the mob.”
(From a defensive player’s perspective on what we’ve seen from RB Jay Ajayi these past few weeks, what is he giving the defenses? What are you seeing?) – “Running the ball downhill. I like it. Obviously another guy from the moment he got here I knew the ability he had and just waiting for him to get his opportunity. Obviously, as a defensive guy sitting on the other side watching him – first down, first down, eating up the clock. We got guys getting on the bikes, staying warm. Long drives, putting up good yards. The run helps the pass. When you got that going it helps everybody out. From that standpoint I couldn’t be any happier for the guy.”
(Getting there on a consistent basis, how do you feel about your game personally playing in running situations the last couple weeks, how do you feel about your game personally?) – “Well, they say you’re only as old as you feel and I have a young mentality. Go out there and just, again, do whatever I can to help the team win. My role is kind of flexible and whatever the situation may be, I’m ready to go. Again, I’ve worked with the coaches from an injury standpoint, from the playing time, to the situation, all the things we’ve been working closely together about maximizing it for not only myself, but for the team’s best interest. I feel good. Any time I’m out there I want to do what I can to help the team win and if that means getting to the quarterback, let’s do it. If that means getting down in 3-technique and throwing around some guards, I’m ready for that too. The more the merrier, especially when the W’s keep piling up high, I’m all for it.”
